The Bear

When Dayane Mounsib approached me with a request for a bear puppet, I was absolutely thrilled. Combining my favorite animal, the bear, with my favorite theatrical element, puppets, led to an absolute blast of a passion project. The Bear, lovingly dubbed "Steven" by the cast and crew is a 15 foot, semi-three dimensional three*-piece rod puppet. He is controlled by three actors from above. He is a massive fire breathing blue bear with a red rooster comb (to mimic Papa Ubu's stolen crown) and a gnarly overbite. He's a beautiful abomination of foam, muslin, faux fur, spray paint, electrical conduit, and lots and lots of love and support from the rest of the Ubu team. I built this puppet from scratch almost entirely on my own and I couldn't have done it without this wonderful group of cast and crew. CONCEPT: My concept for Steven was to have a massive force towering over Pilé and Papa Ubu with a menacing size but a goofy appearance. The overall design concept of the show was heavily inspired by the incredible works of Joan Miro. The final design for Steven was born from a five second doodle I made in my first meeting with the director. I did some tweaking with shapes and colors, and the result was a cross between a bear, a chicken, a mouse, and a secret fourth mystery creature depending on who you ask. *I was very attached to Steven's fire breath, and Dayane was too. Unfortunately, we had to cut it to allow the scene to run more smoothly. The puppet operators did such a good job with him that I hardly missed the fire. CREDITS: I'm so grateful for the outpouring of love and support I received with this project. Though this project was primarily my work, I could not have done it without director Dayane Mounsib, technical director Marty Aikens, shop supervisor Liam Gardner, props crew Jayda Bullard and Kate Blanchard, scene shop assistant and actor Gavin Broussard, painter and actor Alyssa Eymes, and operators Laila Jordan, Alyssa Eymes, and Brooke Murphy.